Heartbroken / Season Over

While one Mr Wenger maintains he is shaken by the injustice of decisions that went against us, the truth is, we blew it. We blew it because some don't have what it takes to perform under the big lights.

There's three men who have to take the fall for this one. We need one world class striker and one cover for our injury prone central defense.


Adebayor is a mediocre forward at best. His first touch is the worst of any of the league's teams' top strikers'. His decision making in crunch situations is weak. At best he can be our back up plan, something that comes on in the 85th minute when nothing else works.

Senderos has had his chances, if he is yet our back-up center-back next season, I will be very surprised. He has to go.

Eboue was superb last season as right back, he was upgraded to right winger and now must be uninstalled. He might be a useful thing to have as backup for right wing or right back, but Walcott when he has played as a right winger, of late I must add, has brought the zing we need. And how we need some zing.

Gilberto came on for and injured Flamini late in the first half, only displayed the gulf in their ability to contribute to the way Arsenal now play. Gilberto, you loyal servant, move on now.

Shocked / Bolt out of the Blue

Bolton 2 — 3 Arsenal. Image: bbc.co.uk

Situation: We were 2—0 down to our bogey team Bolton where we have not won in 6 years, without a win in our last 5 games, playing away from home on a rain drenched pitch, with a half hour to go and reduced to ten men.

From there we hit three after Wenger changed formation, – Gallas, Van Persie (pen) and a last minute deflected goal by Cesc. Wenger calls it our best come-back in recent memory, that aside, Adebayor stuck to his miserable first touch and I fear for our limp strike force as we enter a triple-header with Liverpool in the Champions League and the Permiership in the coming 7 days.

Numb / Out of the title race now

One horrible night of football. Manchester United, true to their grit, held Liverpool off to thump them 3–0 in the end. And Arsenal, went one up against Chelsea, then crumbled again, to prove the doubters right — it is too early for this team after all. And till we get someone we can call a striker, we might always be that something short of being champions of England. The title race is still alive they say, but it is up to Chelsea to challenge for it.

Harrowed / 4 Straight League Draw

Arsenal huffed and puffed. Borough just sat behind the ball and prayed hard. We have just dropped 8 straight points — pathetic. Now Man United have a game in hand level on points with us. Ronaldo scored, yet again, late in the second half to kill off a gritty Derby performance.

Shocked / The results this weekend

FA Cup Quarter Finals

MANCHESTER UNITED 0 – 1 PORTSMOUTH

United were talking treble the the past month, ended up having Ferdinand in goal to face Muntari's penalty with only 12 minutes left on the clock. Kuszczak had earlier replaced Van der Sar at half-time, and was sent off for the challenge on Baros that led to the penalty.

BARNSLEY 1 – 0 CHELSEA

The story of the night. In the previous round they had put Liverpool out, so Chelsea had been forewarned. Even so no one could have given them a chance in hell against a full strength blues squad. In the end all it took was a 66th minute header off a great cross from the right.

MIDDLESBOROUGH 0 – 2 CARDIFF

Cardiff went two up by the 23rd minute and held on to knock yet another Premiership team out. But their agony is that even if they win the cup, the English FA will not send them to the UEFA Cup, since they are a Welsh side.

BRISTOL ROVERS 1 – 5 WEST BROM

Delighted / AC Milan 0 – 2 Arsenal FC

It was an incredible night. The mighty, and very old, AC Milan wall held on for dear life as we played like a team released. Inspirational Cesc put the game beyond them with his 84th minute strike from 30 yards out. That meant Milan needed two to overcome the away goal advantage and they were to be caught out again by the speed of young Walcott tearing down the right to feed Adebayor in the final minute. What a fantastic match, what a fantastic result!

The sight of Fabregas running wild after scoring and into the arms of Arsene Wenger was the moment of the night for me.
Image: Telegrapg.co.uk + Reuters

Delighted / To Get My Arms Around Her

The Premiere League Trophy made its way to Bombay today and it felt wonderful to stand before it, let alone get photographed like that! Then I met the charming old sports reporter, Mr Bharucha, who has been writing for decades for our local newspaper. He said he was a Gunner too, so we had to take this picture.

Arsenal looked woeful against Villa the same evening. The draw we just about managed thanks to a Bendtner jab deep into added time, minutes before I wrote this, was more than I thought we'd get in the end.

Sharing / The Cannon Wallpaper

Click on the cannon to download this in full-size and plaster it on your desktop. [It is sized to 1400x1050 pixels and can scale down to fit your screen.]

Harrowed / Eduardo's Foot Injury

Eduardo suffered a horrific injury at the feet of Birmingham's captain Martin Taylor. Our players looked shaken, the game was stalled for over 8 minutes. Fabregas walked around covering his mouth with his hand — that betrayed the extent of the injury. ESPN refused to show replays, and maintained they had the pictures but were not showing them as it was not in good taste. We can now see why.

“All I remember is that when I fell, I looked down at my foot and it had turned the other way. The rest is just a blank.”
images: The Sun

The Croatian, who is one of the chief architects of his country's entry into the Euro 2008 finals later this year will now sadly have to sit out the tournament.


Walcott meanwhile burst into life scoring his first Premiership goals, his brace put us 1–2 ahead till a last minute dubious penalty allowed Birmingham to equalise.

Manchester United ended the week only 3 points behind us after they demolished Newcastle yet again. Spurs faught back to beat Chelsea 1–2 in the League Cup Final the next day, to finish off an ugly weekend of football action.

Amused / If you played for Brazil, what would your name be?

This cool little webpage — BrazilName — lets you know just that. All you have to do is key in your name. It's a bag full of laughs, but clever too: if you key in Edson Arantes do Nascimento, it calmly names your shirt Pele.

Thanks Xerxes, I love it.

Harrowed / The ignominy of 4–0 to United

FA CUP, ROUND 4 / MANCHESTER UNITED 4 – 0 ARSENAL

It was a clash everyone had been waiting for, two teams that have been in irresistible form, and setting the pace in the Premiership were meeting way too early in the FA Cup.

Both rested players for upcoming Champions League ties mid-week. United left Ronaldo out and we kept Adebayor on the bench. But as the teams lined-up Arsenal seemed to edge toward a more attacking formation. 90 minutes later, we stood dishonored, and you can read the match reports to know how that happened.

There were two instances which really stung — one when the United faithful chanted 'ole' as their boys passed the ball around while they were three ahead. And two, when Nani, whom I wholly detest, ran yards while bouncing the ball on his head and then further flicking it in the air with his foot, with an embarrassed Arsenal skipper biting at his heels.

I''ll stick with drawing some positives in the face of this humiliation:
1. We can concentrate on the two real prizes this year. Winning the Premier League is paramount and if it means exiting the FA Cup early, I am for it. Our squad depth is way lower than other top sides, and its nice to know we have "no more injuries" as AW said post match. He also said we were "beaten everywhere" but let's not go there.
2. The pecking order is settled, Lehman knows now why he is number 2, and if he still doesn't, someone please tell him. I thought his kicking and decision-making were woeful and he could have stopped Nani's 38th minute strike — that was the one that really killed us off.
3. It is clear, if it was not already, Adebayor is the spearhead. Even when he is not scoring, we need him to hassle the shit out of the opposing defense. Wenger took a chance with Bendtner and Eduardo up front, and that will not happen in another important tie. Not this year.

Positives aside, we take on the immovable object — AC Milan at the Emirates — in the first knock-out round of the Champions League on Wednesday night. Another hugely anticipated tie. But right now, I am just a little worried about the mental make-up of our irresistible force.

Quoting / Carl Sagan

Atheism is more than just the knowledge that gods do not exist, and that religion is either a mistake or a fraud. Atheism is an attitude, a frame of mind that looks at the world objectively, fearlessly, always trying to understand all things as a part of nature.

You can't convince a believer of anything; for their belief is not based on evidence, it's based on a deep seated need to believe.

Delighted / Arsenal Five Points Clear

A weekend that saw Manchester City complete the double over United on a day when the teams observed a minutes silence to mark 50 years of the Munich air disaster. Then Liverpool held Chelsea to a goalless draw in a game that just never looked like moving into second gear.

All good, because Senderos and Adebayor scored against Blackburn to stretch our lead at the top of the table.

Shocked / Brrrrr Bombay

Finally, a winter we can feel. It has been a wonderfully long cold spell, too long for some but I tell you – I love it.

BBC says we will get under 10 again tomorrow night — bring it on.

It's the coldest since we touched 7.4 degrees way back in 1962, and it feels just unbelievable.